Chapter 05
Sometimes, the real side of the boss would come out, and it was kind of fascinating. It probably meant that he had become comfortable around me.
Ahaha.
“Next time, please say, ‘The star of my heart is not good.’”
Instead of answering, he put even more strength into the hand stabbing the apple. He kept stabbing it hard, as if deliberately showing off, like a child throwing a tantrum.
Stab. Stab. Stab.
“You are stabbing the apple, right?”
Stab, stab!
“You’re not stabbing it because you think it’s me, right?”
“……”
“That’s an apple. If you mistake it for me and stab me, I’ll cry.”
Stab!
The marble floor became soaked with juice from the apple.
“……It’s not fun anymore.”
Okay, did you have fun?
If you did, that’s enough.
Looking at the completely smashed apple, I sincerely prayed that my future would not end up like that.
“Good morning, Titia.”
“It’s a bad morning, Mr. Beilt. Good timing. Wait a moment.”
I went into my room, brought out the letter I had written for Hannah, and handed it to him.
“Please give this to Hannah.”
He took it and asked,
“Any progress?”
“No.”
“I like your honesty.”
He nodded and knocked on the door to the recluse’s room.
“Boss, you have to sign this today.”
It seemed he had completely abandoned the polite speech he had awkwardly used in front of me.
Without even waiting for permission to enter, Mr. Beilt opened the door wide and walked in. He dropped a stack of documents in front of the boss with a thud.
The boss turned his back and pretended not to see them.
Mr. Beilt grabbed his shoulder and tried to forcibly turn him around.
“Ugh……”
“Ungh……!”
It was funny watching the two of them compete against each other in a battle of strength. In the end, Mr. Beilt lost, and the boss enjoyed his victory as he stuck himself tightly against the wall.
Mr. Beilt raised an annoyed eyebrow and threatened the boss.
“Think about when you finally come to your senses and leave this room. It’ll be too late to regret it then, so sign it quickly. Otherwise, I’ll hug you.”
“……I told you not to say things like that.”
“Don’t wanna.”
There probably wasn’t anyone better at getting on someone’s nerves than Mr. Beilt.
Perhaps annoyed that Mr. Beilt kept standing in the room instead of leaving, the boss did not even check the report. He simply scribbled his signature on it and threw it at him.
Even then, Mr. Beilt happily gathered up the reports and left.
The boss seemed completely drained by Mr. Beilt during that short time and looked exhausted. I changed the water in the flower vase and quietly sat down beside him.
“I have a confession to make to you today, Boss.”
“……”
He did not even look at me.
“It’s a guilty confession!”
Since I had to tell him eventually, I decided to explain why I had come here.
“Actually, the reason I came here is because my half-brother was trying to sell me to Marquess Kennedy. Listen, Boss. That man already has a child about my age! Does it make any sense for me to marry such an old man?”
William was the one who put me on the marriage market as soon as the former Viscount died.
“……I don’t care, so be quiet.”
“So I ran away from home. Because I didn’t want to get married. But he kept looking for me.”
He covered his ears as if he did not want to listen, but I moved closer and slightly raised my voice.
“Then Mr. Beilt came to me at just the right time and said that if I helped him get you out of your room, he would protect me from William and Marquess Kennedy. So I made a contract. To save my own life.”
The reason I was saying all this out of nowhere was to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings later.
Once enough time passed, they always started fighting with things like, ‘So you were staying beside me with such impure intentions?’
Misunderstandings and a lack of communication were always what created endless frustration in stories.
He remained silent for a while, then lowered the hand covering his ear and spat out in a strangely choked voice.
“Why are you telling me that? So I can pity you……? Do you want sympathy from someone like me?”
“Will you give it to me?”
I heard his teeth grind together. The boss suddenly raised his furious face, but then stopped.
“What are you……! You, you……”
He lost his words and simply opened and closed his mouth. His glasses slowly slipped down his nose as if he were flustered.
I had been stretching my cheeks as wide as possible with my hands, but I relaxed them.
He didn’t even smile at a face like a blobfish. He’s a tough opponent.
“Why aren’t you laughing? You didn’t even blink at my masterpiece.”
What an amazing man!
So making people laugh with my face doesn’t work?
Everyone I showed this face to laughed without fail. Maybe the problem was that my previous audience had been children.
I was seriously trying to figure out what the problem was when I heard his trembling voice beside me.
“G-go…….”
“What?”
“G-go away. Go away!”
He was so flustered that he was even stuttering. His pupils were shaking badly.
“Get out! Now!”
“Ah! Okay! Don’t throw the pillow!”
I hurriedly ran out of the room. I heard the door lock behind me, but I didn’t care.
I have the key to the boss’s room.
Today, I was definitely going to catch the culprit.
Getting hit by water once and stung by a bee once—I could consider those accidents and let them go.
But drawing a mustache above my upper lip while I was sleeping in the garden under the warm sunlight and then running away was definitely not an accident.
“Why won’t this come off?”
No matter how hard I rubbed it, the mustache only became more visible. I stared at it for a while and somehow started feeling proud.
“It looks like a stylish mustache. I like it.”
For some reason, my shoulders even straightened.
Since I liked it, should I forgive him?
I was admiring my face from different angles with a hand mirror when someone suddenly jumped out of the bushes and shouted,
“You idiot! Why are you laughing! A woman has a mustache! You should cry!”
“Women can have mustaches too.”
Perhaps my answer flustered him, because the child started stuttering badly.
“T-that isn’t the problem! I-it’s a weird mustache!”
I tilted my head while looking at the child who was angrily arguing with me.
“A child?”
He was an extremely cute boy who looked around eight to ten years old, with bright yellow hair and matching eyes.
“The boss’s secret child?”
“No!”
“Mr. Beilt’s child?”
“I said nooo!”
“My… child?”
“Hey!”
“I’m joking. Did you draw this mustache?”
“Hmph. What if I did?”
He was so confident that I had nothing to say.
“If you’re bored, come draw on me sometimes.”
“……On your face?”
“Yep.”
You’re young and cute, so I’ll forgive you.
At my cute answer, he opened his mouth wide in disbelief.
“By the way, what’s your name? I’m……”
“Pte-pte Lowellsy!”
What?
Pte-pte?
Even so, he correctly guessed the alias Lowellsy that I used to hide the fact that I was from the Angella family.
“I’m Titia.”
“Hmph!”
“Hmm……”
He was the first person since I came here to openly show hostility toward me.
I glanced at the huffing child and casually said,
“The bee sting hurt last time. Don’t do that again.”
“Hmph! I did it because I wanted to! Why are you telling me not to?”
“So it was you? You were the one who threw the bucket of water at me too, right?”
The child flinched. He slowly avoided my eyes before slipping into the bushes.
I tried to chase after him, but he was so fast that he had already gotten far away.
“Who is he, really?”
Did the boss have a child he was raising?
But I didn’t remember seeing anyone with that appearance in the novel……
I should ask Mr. Beilt.
And I’ll ask him why that child hates me so much, too.
Unfortunately, Mr. Beilt was not a man with much free time. He had to take care of everything related to the boss, so the only time I could meet him was after he finished his work and returned.
Then I’d have to ask someone else.
I decided to find the kindest people, Jessica and Lynette.
The two were incredibly strong, so they did not have a specific assignment and helped wherever they were needed. That meant they were never in one place for long.
In other words, I couldn’t find them and eventually returned to the recluse’s room.
‘It’s not good to leave him alone for too long.’
He should have calmed down by now, right?
Knock, knock.
“Boss, I’m coming in now.”
“D-don’t come in.”
“Huh? Okay. Then I’ll stay here.”
Is he crying? Why does his voice sound like it’s trembling?
The pain of his ordeal must occasionally come back to him, making him cry while thinking about the Saintess.
Thinking depressing thoughts would only make him more depressed, so I tried to start a conversation before he could sink deeper into them.
I wondered what would be a good topic, then decided to ask about the child I had just met.
“By the way, I just met a very yellow chick in the garden.”
He wasn’t an actual chick, so calling him a child was more appropriate than calling him a bird.
Anyway, I continued.
“He was incredibly yellow…… and it turned out he was the one who caused me to get water thrown at me and get stung by bees. Do you know who he is?”
“……I don’t know.”
You know.
“At least tell me his name.”
“……”
He did not answer, so I used the key I had brought with me to unlock the door and strode inside.
I pushed my face close to the boss’s and pointed directly at my upper lip with my index finger.
“Tell me! He even drew a mustache on my face! The next time I meet him, I’m going to call him by name and teach him a proper les—Mmph!”
Suddenly, he pulled my hand toward him and covered my mouth with his large hand.
His hand was so big that it covered half of my face.
I looked up at him with wide eyes and clearly saw the veins bulging along his jaw.
Why is he angry?
“You, you…… D-don’t appear in front of me looking like th-that!”
“Mmph! Mm-mmph!”
This is unfair!
I didn’t ask for this! That child drew it on me himself!
He ignored my protests and slowly removed the hand covering my mouth. Taking the opportunity, I shouted indignantly,
“This mustache wasn’t something I wanted, so—Mmph!”
He hurriedly covered my face again and then effortlessly lifted me into his arms.
My feet left the floor.
I knew he was tall, but seeing him up close, he seemed much taller than Sir Danny.
“Wash it off and come back, or don’t come at all.”
The end of his voice trembled slightly, making it seem like he really couldn’t stand looking at me.
He simply threw me out of the room.
Feeling extremely wronged, I shouted,
“What’s wrong with this mustache! Honestly, I like it!”
“Ugh. Close the door and go away!”
A groan came from between his lips, which he had tightly covered with both hands.
This wasn’t going to work.
It was dangerous right now.
I decided to retreat for today.
As I closed the door, I said,
“I’ll wash it off and come back.”
That yellow chick!
So that’s why he gave me this mustache? To make the boss hate me!
In an open area on a small hill belonging to the ducal residence, a bright yellow child was sitting with his knees pulled tightly to his chest, exactly like Jeervant.
As he looked at the orange sunset sinking in the distance, the child’s eyes became cloudy.
‘I’m annoyed…….’
Tears welled up, and the child hurriedly wiped them away with his arms.
“If you keep doing that, you’ll hurt your eyes.”
“It really hurts, but you don’t know, do you?”
At the voice of the twin sister who spoke with an awkward accent, the child, Joshua, suddenly stood up.
“Who cares!”
“You got caught in the end.”
“Right?”
“Ugh! Don’t take turns talking! You’re annoying!”
Having nothing to say, Joshua picked a pointless fight and shouted angrily before eventually becoming exhausted and dropping back down.
The twins approached him.
Their huge shadows were large enough to completely cover Joshua as the sunset disappeared behind them.
“We didn’t tell Titia.”
“We pretended not to know. We did well, right?”
“……”
“Titia is kind.”
“I’m telling you in case you don’t know.”
“……”
Joshua did not answer. He simply pressed his lips tightly together.
